COFIDIS

1. FEATURES:

a. Their promotions were innovatively designed to optimize their budget. Instead of television commercials, they sponsored Tour de France, where bicyclists would sport their logos on their clothes generating visible-time for the brand. This was extremely successful, even surpassing the official sponsor, Coca-Cola.

Bicycling was strategically chosen because of its broad appeal in the region and its potential to reinforce the sunny and colorful insouciance associated with the Cofidis brand.

b. Their marketing initiatives regarding international expansion was extremely local-centric, with specific emphasis on nuances of each individual country. Guillois recalled: “We have adapted every bit of communication, including product name, to local cultures”. For example, Belgians were not comfortable with the notion of borrowing money, Libravou was thus launched there as “Direct Cash” featuring simplicity and flexibility.

c. Marketing at Cofidis was techno-savvy with continual initiatives towards gaining more leverage from internet through their customer focused website. This resulted in extensive referencing by search engines. In 1999 approximately 50% of Cofidis loans were initiated online, by voicemail, or though the minitel. They were also in the process of launching a re-branded website including cutting edge features like online brokerage.

2. CHALLENGES:

a. Rise of internet usage to compare different products: Company was getting worried that with the rise of internet, their products were just one click away from the competition and the consumers could first look for the best deals from different competitors before finalizing an option.

b. Threat of losing existing customer base: Cofidis also faced threat from other banks that kept tracking Cofidis customer payments and make a better offer to them to shift from Cofidis.